Bacunayagua Raid

The Bacunayagua Raid (14 June 1969) was a classified CIA operation that was carried out in Cuba in 1969, involving a raid on Cuba's northern shore by a force of around 200 "Operation 40" Cuban exiles. The Op 40 operatives were sent to weaken the Cuban government by demoralizing its soldiers with another successful raid, and they were landed on the northern shore of Cuba by a seaborne landing craft. The Cuban exiles succeeded in taking over a Cuban base and in shooting down two Soviet-supplied spy planes, installing an automatic SAM launcher that destroyed the two surveillance aircraft in the air. The raid was one of many CIA-funded incursions into Cuba carried out during the Cold War.